This isn’t a wrench-turning HVAC tech job — it’s high-level strategy in the commercial HVAC market. If you’ve got both industry expertise and business savvy, it could be a strong move. But it also likely comes with corporate pressure and high expectations.
I’d ask what percent of your time is OEM design-ins vs distributor pull-through, and how much apps engineering support you get. In my last sensor role, bringing an apps engineer to a VRF lab day cut qualification from 6 months to 6 weeks and got us locked into the BOM.
In my last HVAC/R sensors role, the make-or-break was how they measured success — bookings vs design-in pipeline — because specs took 12–18 months and quarter-end felt like herding cats. @matthew9418 is spot on; I’d also ask if you get a named apps engineer or you’re the de facto FAE, and what % travel they expect?
I’d nail down who owns pricing authority and the sample budget in Raleigh, because sensor wins live or die on fast evals and margin protection. In a past role, waiting 4–6 weeks for eval units and NRE approval killed OEM doors, ugh. If Danfoss can promise a two-week sample turn and clear discount bands for key OEMs, I’d take a hard look.
I’d press them on how they handle “custom” sensor variants — connectors, cable lengths, potting — because that’s where HVAC/R deals get stuck. If the Raleigh team can turn a connector tweak in under 4 weeks with UL docs ready for pressure transducers and NTC probes, great; if not, , you’ll watch a $500k OEM spec idle. Agree with @matthew9418 on measurement, but if they’ve got a platform approach with pre-approved options and reasonable MOQs, that pain mostly disappears.